Ever lost anything that made you ill to think about it? Something special, dear to your heart, you knew couldn’t be replaced? It’s an awful feeling. I’m very organized, but can be absent-minded, especially when I’ve got a laundry list of deadlines, dates, and chores on my never-ending to-do list. Recently, I misplaced something that got me thinking just how quickly time passes when you’re a mama.
It’s here! Spring’s finally arrived, keeping me happily busy sunup to sundown. I don’t mind winter, but wanted to say, “ENOUGH already!” when it seemed to last an eternity this year. Warm thoughts to my friends in the Midwest, feeling those chilly temps even longer than us! When the first green popped up, I was ready to dance like Snoopy from the Peanuts gang! So what if some of the vegetation sproutin’ were weeds? They’regreen! Recently, I’ve even learned to appreciate and eat certain weeds. Come peek at what I’ve got cookin’…
Charming. Quaint. Historic... These words describe my favorite places. We’ve recently spent a family day finding just that! What do dinosaurs and heirloom seedshave in common? Both are found in New England! Come take a Suburban Farmgirl road trip with me to Hartford County, Connecticut!
The ol’ quote says, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. I’m feeling that way about spring, and it’s refreshing arrival! After a long winter of cold temps that started here six months ago, I can’t wait to smell warm, dark, earth, and dig in the garden under the sun. It’s a time in New England when the earth “wakes up”. (Although with chilly, below-normal temps for April, I’m thinkin’ Mother Nature’s overslept)! Not to worry…there’s plenty of signs of spring, so if it hasn’t arrived for you yet, it can’t be too far away!
Hooray for Spring! Join me in celebrating the Earth!
Something spectacular is happening daily in my daughter’s school. Since December, therapy dogs have been in the halls and classrooms. Brought in for comfort after December 14th, these furry, four-legged souls have brought so much more.
I’m a “planner”, always trying to think ahead, stay organized, and not get too stressed. But sometimes life has other plans, and things just get C-R-A-Z-Y. Like so many other suburban moms, life can get hectic, like a roller coaster ride. Sometimes ya just wanna say, “Slow the ride down, we’re going too fast!” So far March has been madness!
“Get busy! Spring’s coming!”
I recently reorganized my kitchen. Our home’s hub, it’s where meals are shared, crafts and homework’s done, and friends gather. We don’t eat out often; it’s costly, usually non-organic and often disappointing. Anything we order, I can make. I’m tickled when asked cooking advice. Cooking’s part skill, part creativity, and lots of practice! Now, I’m not one to brag, but in the kitchen I feel like a black-belt Ninja! It wasn’t always so . …
As a kid in Houston, I really didn’t have “winter” clothes. We’d wear flip-flops almost year round, and my “coat” was more of a jacket. The first time I saw snow up North, I was so excited I phoned my family in Texas at the crack of dawn! Now, snow’s part of life in Connecticut, and most of us don’t give it much thought other than checking to see if school’s called off. So when warnings came through about a history-making blizzard, we got prepared (not panicked). “Nemo” was bringing a snowfall our area hadn’t seen at once in several decades. What’s a farmgirl to do with a ton of snow? Have a ton of fun!
Look! A “Snowy Owl”!
We’ve turned the corner to February! It’s still Winter, but on the “bright” side, days have begun to get longer, and we’ve been doing some Spring dreamin’! I’ve got hot organic tea made; have a cup and let’s chat about “this and that”!
It’s been over a month since the horrific tragedy in Newtown, CT. All of us here are asked frequently “How are you doing?” I can’t speak for how the families of the victims are; they remain in my daily thoughts and prayers. The rest of us are healing, as a whole, with the help and love of so many from around the world.
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
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